Many types of hazardous wastes are generated every year. The wastes include organic materials, such as pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), paints and solvents. Also, other wastes include inorganic material, such as the oxides of iron, zinc, aluminum, copper and magnesium and the salts of ferric chloride, ferrous chloride, aluminum chloride, etc.
Disposal of organic wastes in landfills and by incineration has become an increasingly difficult problem because of diminishing availability of disposal space, strengthened governmental regulations, and the growing public awareness of the impact of hazardous substance contamination upon the environment. Release of hazardous organic wastes to the environment can contaminate air and water supplies thereby diminishing the quality of life in the affected populations.
To minimize the environmental effects of the disposal of organic wastes, methods must be developed to convert these wastes into benign, and preferably, useful substances. In response to this need, there has been a substantial investment in the development of a variety of methods for treating hazardous organic wastes. One of the most promising new methods is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,574,714 and 4,602,574, issued to Bach and Nagel. The method for destroying organic material, including toxic wastes, involves dissociation of the organic material to its atomic constituents in a molten metal and reformation of these atomic constituents into environmentally acceptable products, including hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide gases.